Foot size measurer



March 13, 1934. E. J. BLISS FOOT SIZE MEASURER Filed Feb. 25, 1933 6 $6M3 1w. attorney Patented Mar. 13, 1934 STATS FOOT SIZE MEASURER Elmer J.Bliss, Boston, Mass, assignor to Regal Shoe Company, Whitman, Mass, acorporation of Massachusetts Application February 25, 1933, Serial No.658,481

6 Claims.

This invention is intended to provide a very simple and low-cost devicecapable of accurately measuring in terms of standard size numbers ahuman foot for the purpose of fitting shoes.

In an earlier application filed by me June 10, 1932, Serial No. 616,460,I have disclosed a construction of foot size measurer embodying asomewhat similar principle, in which a large sheet metal plate formedthe support for a foot gauging and supporting member that was shiftablelaterally from place to place to ascertain the length size measurment ofthe foot being measured, the foot gauging member being provided withremovable gauge pieces or members for the purpose of gauging differentwidths of feet.

The present invention, however, is in the nature of a modification or,improvement of the invention forming the subject of the aforesaidapplication and has certain advantages over the earlier construction inthat it greatly reduces the amount of material required for constructingthe earlier form and, furthermore, greatly facilitates the lengthmeasurement or" the foot which is preferably measured with the weightresting on the foot by providing a foot gauging support that does notrequire shifting to diiferent positions after the weight of the foot isthrown on it, but makes provision for transversely sliding the compositetoe gauge member without disturbing the original position of the foot.Furthermore, loss of the removable side gauges is avoided by pivotallyattaching the side gauging members, which determine the widthmeasurement of the foot, to the permanent fixed side gauging membersprojecting upward from the forepart of the foot supporting and gaugingmember.

These and other features of the present invention will be particularlydescribed in the following specification and will be defined in theclaims hereto annexed.

In the drawing I have illustrated a simple and convenient form ofconstruction embodying the principles of this invention, in which Fig. lis a plan view of the complete device as it appears in actual use whenmeasuring the length and width of an interposed foot indicated in dottedlines.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation in central longitudinal section of the sameconstruction shown in Fig. 1.

In the practice of this invention as illustrated in the drawing, Iprovide a foot supporting plate or member 1, which may be made of sheetmetal and which is provided at its rear with an upwardly projecting heelgauging member 2 and is preferably provided at the heel portion withsome suitable means for slightly elevating the heel above the forepartof the foot, suchas a bolster block 3.

The forepart of the plate 1, that is, the part whi h underlies theforepart or ball portion of the feet being measured,indicated at 1 hasupturned side members 4 that diverge in a forward direction to form sidegauges for measuring or ascertaining the size width of an interposedfoot across the ball of the foot.

It should be understood that according to established practice widthsize measurement of a normal foot is a function or coordinate of thelength size measurement of the foot. To illustrate, the actualball'width of a normal foot that is size '7C, according to standardpractice, will be the same as the actual absolute width measurement of a6D foot, or of an 8-3 foot. In practice, the unit increment of lengthsize measurement is inch; the unit increment of width size measurementis 1%: inch. 80 However, under a standard practice the numeralsindicating foot length sizes signify a uniform actual length and a No. 8foot size length should always be A; inch longer than a No. '7 foot sizemeasurement. On the other hand, the width size measurement of the footis a variable whose size designation depends upon the length of the footbeing measured and that length may be either the over-all length or theball length measurement which, according to standard practice, is thestraight line distance from the back of the heel to the transverse lineintersecting the center of the ball joint of the foot. Accordingly, eachsize length increase in the over-all length of the foot equals of aninch and involves a corresponding increase in the ball length of thefoot equal to 2/9 'of an inch. As width sizes increase by increments of1% inch, the side members 4, which gauge the width of the foot at theball, must increase their divergence from any given point 1% of an inchfor each 2/9 of an inch increase in length size of the foot and the sidemembers 4 must be laid out on that ratio.

The fixed side gauges 4 accordingly are laid out to properly gauge feetof different length having the maximum width measurement, which we mayassume in this case to be an E width, and therefore these fixed gauges 4of themselves can only properly gauge feet of difierent 1 length havingthat extreme width size measurement. In order, therefore, to determinethe size measurement of feet that are narrower it is necessary todiminish the distance between the side gauges in order to form gaugingcontact with opposite sides of the ball of the foot. Consequently, Iattach to the forward ends of the permanent side gauging members 4supplemental gauging members 5, each I12 inch thick. Any number of thesesupplemental gauges may be pivoted, one inside the other, to permit themto be swung rearwardly into gauging position. In Fig. l I have showneach permanent or outside fixed gauge member 4 provided with twointerior supplemental gauge members 5 of the proper width, but anynumber of such supplemental gauges may be used according to the range ofwidth measurement desired. With all four of these supplemental gauges 5turned back to gauging position, they would afford a Width caliperingspace four width sizes narrower than when they are all in raised or atinactive position. The actual illustration in Fig. 1 shows a foot beingmeasured that registers 3 length size and also registers a C width, thatis two width sizes less than the extreme or greatest width between thefixed members 4. If these two pivotal gauge members, that are in activethe ball member of the foot, one of the upstanding gauge members 5 maybe swung rearwardly to active position and, if this correctly gauges thewidth of the foot at the ball then size measurement indicated would be 3D.

The foot inserted between the gauges should be retracted rearwardlyagainst the heel gauge 2 g the weight of the person should be thrown onthe foot to expand it to weight-supporting posture; the pivotal sidegauges, if necessary, may be manipulated to determine the width sizemeasurement and then the toe gauge member '7 should be slid alongtransversely of the foot until one of the toe gauging tabs 1 forms agauging contact with the great toe of the foot. The toe gauge plate 7 isprovided with a slot 7 dimensioned to fit the upturned lip 6 of theforward extension of the foot supporting and gauging plate 1 and theforward edge of the toe gauge plate 7 may be provided with an upturnedstiffening flange, as shown in 7.

With the above described construction not only can the width size andlength size measurement of any foot be quickly and easily determined,but there is no need of shifting the foot from place to place to get thecorrect length measurement and there is no danger of losing thesupplemental width gauge members, since they are permanently attached byrivets 5 to the permanent side gauges 4 with suflicient looseness topermit their swinging movement. Outwardly projecting lips 5 afford aconvenient means for lifting the supplemental gauges from activeposition.

It should be understood that the toe gauging tabs '7 designated by theirappropriate lengthsize number, as measured straight forward from theheel gauge to each tab as it is brought into opposition to the heelgauge member, are arranged in an obliquely offset order at the rear edgeof the toe gauge plate 7, each being offset a distance equal to one-halfa foot lengthsize, that is, of an inch beyond the next adjacent tab soas to afford half size length measurements.

t will also be understood that in reading the measurement of the footthe width sizes, ranging from A to E on the device actually shown,should always be associated with the length-size measurement of the footsince otherwise the width size designation standing by itself ismeaningless.

What I claim is:

1. A foot measuring device for ascertaining the length-size andwidth-size measurements of a foot comprising a foot supporting memberhaving at its rear end an upward heel positioning member and provided atits forepart with opposed forwardly diverging upturned ball gaugingmembers affording means for indicating width-size measurements of aninterposed foot in correlation with its length-size when the foot ispositioned against the heel member, and a transversely movablelength-size gauge having sliding engagement with guiding means locatedforwardly of the forepart of the supporting member, said transverselymovable member being provided along its rear edge with upstanding tabsadapted to engage the toe of the interposed foot and arranged in adiagonal order I to gauge against and measure feet of different length.

2. A foot measuring device embracing a foot supporting and heel gaugingmember, and a forepart provided with means for gauging the ball width ofan interposed foot in correlation with the length measurement of saidfoot, and a transversely movable length gauging member provided at itsrear edge with a series of upturned length-size indicating toe-gaugingtabs for gauging, respectively, the toes of feet of different length.

3. A foot measuring device for measuring in correlation the length andwidth size measurements of feet comprising a foot supporting memherprovided at its rear with an upstanding heel positioning gauge and onopposite sides of its forepart area with upturned oblique-ball-gaugingmembers coordinated with a length measuring device comprising atransversely slidable toegauging member having at its rear edgetoegauging means at different size-length distances from the heel gaugeand movable by such transverse movement into gauging contact with thetoes of feet of different lengths to indicate the length measurementthereof.

4. A foot size measuring device embracing in its constructioncoordinated width-size and length-size gauging members combined with aheel gauging member common to both measuring devices, the toegauging-member comprising a transversely slidable plate provided withobliquely arranged toe-gauging means along the rear edge of said plate,the width gauging means comprising divergent upstanding ball gaugingmembers on opposite sides of the ball supporting portion of the device,said ball gauging members comprising permanently fixed members to whichare pivotally attached, in

parallelism therewith, a plurality of side gauging ing engagement withsaid guide to permit the toe gauge to be moved transversely of the foota plurality of movable supplemental gauging plates pivotally connectedwith the forward ends of said upturned side gauge members, each having athickness equal to a width-size unit in foot measuring to permit theswinging of one or more of said supplemental gauging members into or outof position for gauging the ball of the foot, and a transversely movablelength-size gauging and indicating member for indicating the size-lengthof the interposed foot being measured.

ELMER J. BLISS.

